Holiday Season Safety Concerns
While the festive season is widely embraced as a time of celebration and relaxation for a lot of us, there is a flip side to this sentiment that brings about an interesting discussion regarding the hazards the end of year carousing brings.
The first consideration is simply the length of time and number of man hours people in various positions have accumulated during the course of the year. Different jobs have different degrees of stress, whether that be mental or physical they all share one factor in common at this time of year; duration. After an entire annum of work, motivation and dedication tend to decline (this is not necessarily purposefully done by employees but rather is a natural outcome of this period)
Humans are not infallible and even with adequate rest or leave periods, most of us begin to feel the toll of the work year at this time. Not only have we been hard at work for a long duration but extra stress is added in the form of standard festive season expectations.
Many people take on extra shifts or hours in order to provide for their families. This proposition is made even more tempting by the common fact that pay rates usually increase during festive season. This can lead to motivation for employees to push themselves past healthy boundaries in order to keep up with seasonal demands both in their jobs and personal lives.
Customers are often also more highly strung as they take advantage of Christmas sales and deals. It is important that your team has a good plan and support system that is specifically implemented to manage this time of year well.
So how do we control these hazards and keep employees safe during this time? Here are a number of good points to take into consideration both as staff and management:
Offer/take adequate leave throughout the year
Plan ahead for how the festive season will be managed (Eg taking into account the higher head counts, sales rushes etc)
Have relief staff and adequate shift management in place for the season
Offer employees fair benefits that motivate them near the end of the year
Keep team morale high by showing care for team members personal considerations and be respectful of different cultures
